Imprint Lost, Love Found
by BroodyCheery323
Summary: Legend says that the imprint is what keeps the wolf grounded. Like gravity, binding them. But for one wolf, will there be something stronger than the imprint? Something else binding them?


AN: Okay, so I've always been drawn to Sam and Leah's story. Don't ask me why since there really isn't a whole lot to go on but I always found it to be so heartbreaking and it always moved me. So I wrote this. It's rough and unbelievably cheesy at times and not what I pictured at all when I started writing it but I love it. I find their story to be a very emotional one and I so hope that I was able to capture even a little bit of it. And if not? Well, I tried, LOL. Enjoy! : )

I do not own Twilight or any of the characters belonging to it!

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Our legends have always said that our imprints are what keeps us grounded. Almost like gravity...our tie to the earth. It's like several strings tying you to a person. Binding you.

I'm not sure exactly when it changed for me. I've thought about it countless times but I've never been able to pinpoint the exact moment. The moment the ties came loose.

Xx

Sam stood a couple feet away from her. He watched silently as her eyes filled with unshed tears. She was coming apart right in front of him. Sam felt a stabbing pain in his chest, right where his heart was. It killed him to see her like this...so broken. It always had.

Sam slowly stepped toward her, reaching his hand out tentatively to rest on her shoulder. He squeezed softly, letting her know that he was here. She tilted her head up slowly. Her watery eyes connecting with his pain filled ones.

He stared deeply into her eyes while she just gazed back. Her lip quivered and she dropped her eyes from his, choking back a sob. Sam's heart broke and he quickly pulled her against his chest, wrapping his arms around her tightly and tucking her head under his chin. He rubbed his hand up and down her back in soothing gestures. Sam waited patiently for her sobs to calm. She didn't deserve this. To be frozen in time. To have to be inside his head day after day. Sam felt a tear escape from his own eyes.

Sam held her closely for several minutes before she abruptly pulled away from him. Her eyes were hard and all traces of the tears were gone. She dropped her arms from him and stepped back.

"I'm sorry about that. I'm fine now, I better go." She spoke without emotion.

"Leah…" Sam begged reaching his hand out to her again.

She took another step back, brushing his hand away from her. "Go home, Sam."

She turned and walked away from him. Sam watched her go silently. For a second she had been open, vulnerable but now she was back to the way she always was with him. She was completely closed off.

Sam sighed and he felt his body begin to tremble. He kicked his shoes off quickly before phasing completely. He turned in his wolf form and started further into the forest.

"What's going on, Sam?" He heard Paul ask inside of his head.

The other's voices quickly joined his, all of them curious. Sam forced back the image of Leah crying in his arms. He sighed inside his head.

"Leah has joined us."

Sam blocked out the murmurs of shock and horror and continued running.

Xx

Sam stood across the clearing, casting his eyes around each member of the pack. His eyes stopped on Leah. He gazed searchingly at her from his place across from her. How was she handling this? Seth is her brother and he left.

Sam watched the different emotions playing across her face. She went from angry to confused to annoyed to thoughtful to…resolute? Sam watched curiously as she stepped back, her face more determined than he had ever seen.

Leah looked up at Sam and the look in her eyes scared him. What was she doing? Sam started in surprise when she suddenly phased in front of them, her clothes and shoes shredding to pieces. Leah turned and ran into the forest.

"What the hell?"

"Sam, what's going on?"

"Where is she going?"

Sam ignored the curious and shocked questions being spoken from every direction. He kicked off his shoes and phasing quickly started after her. Sam felt the exact moment his mind linked with hers.

"Leah what are you…"

"I'm sorry, Sam."

"What's going on Leah?" Sam spoke panicked. The voice in his head was getting harder to hear.

"I have to take care of Seth. I can't let him go to them, not alone."

"Leah…don't." He begged, panic setting in.

"Goodbye Sam."

"Leah!"

His cry broke off as Leah's mind faded from his own. Sam continued to run after her until he felt her pass over the treaty line. He stopped abruptly. She was gone. She was in Cullen territory…with Jake. She left them. She left him.

Xx

Sam trudged slowly through the forest. The wind was cold but it did little against his hot skin. Sam pushed a tree branch out of the way and his eyes fell on Leah sitting with her back against a tree. Hesitantly, Sam moved closer and sat down next to her.

"You're in Cullen territory, Sam." She said without looking at him.

Sam shrugged. "I know."

Leah didn't say anything – she gave no sign that she had even heard him. The pair lapsed into silence. Several minutes passed and Sam heard Leah sigh. She turned to him, her eyes hard.

"What do you want, Sam?" She asked, not coldly.

"I don't know." He said honestly.

Leah nodded and turned away from him again. Silence again.

"So Jake imprinted then?" He asked conversationally.

Leah snorted. "Yeah…on a half-human, half-vampire."

"We won't be coming after the Cullens anymore. Not now that Jake had imprinted on the cre-baby." Sam changed his word last minute.

"I figured as much. After all, you can't mess with the imprint."

Leah tried to keep the bitterness out of her words but Sam still heard it. He hung his head and sighed.

"Yeah…" He mumbled.

Leah turned her eyes on Sam. "What do you want Sam? You obviously came here for a reason."

Sam lifted his head and turned his body so that he was facing Leah. There was something in his eyes – a look Leah couldn't quite place.

"Leah, you can come home now – all of you can."

Leah shook her head. "No Sam, we can't. Jake gave into his alpha side, I don't think he can take that back. And Seth- well he loves the leeches. He isn't going anywhere."

"And you?" Sam pressed.

"I can't go back, Sam. I don't think it works that way for one – we can't just switch packs when we feel like it."

"You could try."

"But it's more than that, Sam. I can't go back. I don't want to go back."

And there it was. The last part of Sam that was hoping that she would come back- that they could fix this was gone. Leah didn't want to come back. She'd left her tribe, her family, her land, her pack…all because of him. And he couldn't even be mad at her for it.

Xx

The battle was over. The royal leeches had left with all their followers and the people they had brought with them to witness. And to everyone's utter shock, they all came out of it alive. No one had been harmed. Thanks to the future seeing vampire and her emotion feeling husband as well as a few new arrivals.

For the most part, everything was back to normal on the reservation. With the vampires gone and finally reaching a true truce with the Cullens, everything was really…quiet. For some of the guys that wasn't necessarily a good thing but for Sam, well he wasn't really sure yet.

Somehow his thoughts again strayed to Leah. They always did. She'd come back to the reservation along with Seth and Jake, though Jake spent a lot of his time over at the Cullens. The packs were still separate but they'd worked it out, learned to co-exist together. The only thing really that remained unresolved was his relationship with Leah. But really how did he resolve that?

The sound of a door opening pulled Sam's attention away from his thoughts and he turned to see Emily coming into the room. She smiled brightly at him but Sam didn't return it. Instead, he gave a brief nod and turned away.

"Is everything okay, Sam?" Emily asked. Sam ignored her, his thoughts again on Leah.

Emily frowned and moved to stand in front of Sam who didn't so much as glance up to acknowledge her presence. Her frown deepened and she kneeled so they were on eye level.

"Sam," She tried.

"I'm fine, Emily." Sam snapped.

He looked up enough to see the hurt that flashed across Emily's face. Her eyes shined with what Sam assumed were unshed tears and she stood quickly. Sam didn't question her reaction. He'd been irritable for weeks so it wasn't surprising in the least that Emily would be hurt.

Distantly, he heard the sound of the door closing as Emily left and while he felt bad about hurting her, he made no move to follow her. The guilt he felt was simply the guilt anyone would feel at making someone cry and not the guilt of someone bound by destiny.

The realization came suddenly and it shocked Sam to his very core. He didn't feel guilty. In the past, whenever Emily was hurt it was like a physical pain to him. He couldn't stop himself from fixing it but now…he didn't feel it.

He supposed his first reaction should have been to go after Emily and figure it out, or call up one of the guys who'd imprinted, or even contact the counsel, but he didn't do any of those things. No, his first though was of Leah and before it even completely registered, he was out the door and on his way to her house.

Xx

Sam pounded on the door. He needed to see Leah. He had to know. He'd run here from his house across the reservation, she needed to be here. Sam nearly phased in order to talk to the guys and find Leah but it was at that moment that the door opened.

Leah stood on the other side of the doorway in a tank top and loose fitting pajama pants. She arched an eyebrow at Sam standing on her doorstep and opened her mouth to ask why he was there, but she never got the chance.

Without a word Sam reached out and cupped the back of her neck. He pulled her to him and he ducked down to press his lips firmly against hers. Leah gasped which only served to provide Sam with the entrance he was desperately seeking and his tongue met hers with desperation.

Leah didn't fight him. She didn't question it or even stop to think how much it would kill her to see him walk away after this. She never could deny Sam. She'd tried. Even broke free if his pact in an effort to stay away but it never worked. So without question, Leah responded to his kiss.

When the need for air was too strong to ignore they broke apart. Sam didn't release his hold on Leah and instead leaned his forehead against hers.

"I love you," he whispered.

Leah wrenched her head back enough to stare into Sam's eyes. She searched desperately for an answer to what was happening. How could Sam say that? Was he just toying with her? The look in his eyes told her that he was completely sincere. It was a look full of love and longing. A look she hadn't seen since the day she introduced Sam to her cousin.

"What? But-but how?" She stammered, unable to accept this for what it was. Not yet.

Sam grinned. "It's gone, Lee-lee. The imprints gone."

Leah's eyes shined and she made a choking sound in her throat. She stared intently for another minute, reading Sam's eyes, before smiling with him. The tears flowed freely but she didn't care. Leah flung her arms around Sam's neck and held him to her tightly.

"I love you too."

Xx

So when was the exact moment the ties came loose? I can't say for sure. But personally, I don't think it was one exact moment. I think they been loosening ever since day one.

It didn't happen to any of the others. Paul still had Rachel, Quil has Claire, Jake has Nessie…they all still have their imprints. It only happened to me. We've all speculated about why but we still don't know for sure. Paul would call me a girl but I like to think it was because I was already in love and that love was too strong to stay buried.

Whatever it was, I don't care. What matters is it happened and I got back the one person I always loved.

Our legends have always said that our imprints are what keep us grounded. Our ties to the earth, binding you. But not for me. I lost my imprint, but in the process I found love.

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Review and let me know what you thought please! : )


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